US food anti-terrorism measures implicated

On April 2nd, CFNA revealed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing a new food control regulation that requires production, processing, packaging and warehousing in the United States and abroad. The U.S. population and animal food consumption agencies were registered with the FDA before December 12, 2003.
According to the FDA, this is not a new trade barrier, but it can be used to quickly respond to possible or actual terrorist attacks on food supply. After the "9.11" incident, U.S. domestic people believed that it was necessary to effectively improve the safety of food supply. After the US Congress passed the "Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Prevention and Countermeasures Act of 2002" on June 11, 2002, it allocated US$500 million to authorize FDA to formulate specific rules for implementing the Act.
At present, the FDA is seeking the opinions of the U.S. Congress and foreign stakeholders on this regulation. The deadline for soliciting opinions is April 4, 2003. In order to enter into force on December 12, 2003, the FDA will publish the law by October 12, 2003. Sources said that U.S. authorities claimed that even if the current final rule has not yet been issued, it must be followed.
According to an analysis by relevant experts in China, the United States' move to build a counter-terrorism defense line in the food sector has a wide range of applications, complicated procedures, and severe measures. It objectively results in trade restrictions and trade protection effects, which is bound to increase the burden of global food trade. China Exports to the United States will also encounter greater resistance. The authorities of the China Food, Animal and Livestock Import and Export Chamber of Commerce believe that the U.S. legislation is in contradiction with the World Trade Organization agreement and will create an undue burden on trade and create obstacles to world trade in agricultural products.
According to related data, China exported 1.63 billion U.S. dollars of agricultural products to the United States in 2002, accounting for about 9% of all agricultural exports. It is the fourth largest export market for agricultural products in China. The main export products are aquatic products and gardening products. Among them, more than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars of foods are directly consumed, over 500 varieties, and more than 3,000 directly exported enterprises. However, the range of foods regulated by the FDA and the scope of the registered companies include all production and trading companies that produce, process, package, and store food that is exported to the United States for people and animals, regardless of whether it is a production and trading company that directly exports to the United States The number of Chinese export commodities and the number of enterprises involved in the export of foreign trade companies acting as agents or providing supplies to exporting companies to the United States will also be far greater than this number.
If this new US regulation is introduced, it will inevitably have a great impact on China's food exports. For this reason, the relevant government departments of our country are also actively responding to it.
On April 4th, the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Animals, Animals, and Animals submitted a written opinion to the FDA. The comments pointed out that the FDA's move has a wide range of impact and time constraints. If other countries also adopt such measures by the FDA, they will have a serious impact on global trade, and China reserves the possibility of taking measures to import food from the United States. The comments also proposed to extend the deadline for soliciting opinions to April 30, 2003.
On the afternoon of April 8, the Ministry of Commerce issued the 27th article “Circular on the Proposed Implementation of the Food Registration Notification System in the United States” and notified the national food production, processing, packaging, warehousing and export enterprises of the situation in response to the FDA action. And make emergency deployments.
The Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce will deploy work in several aspects, mainly focusing on briefings, understanding business difficulties, and guiding export response work. The Ministry of Commerce requires that the production, processing, packing, and warehousing enterprises related to export products be notified of the adjustment of the US policy as soon as possible, collect and aggregate the information for registration and notification from these enterprises, and make preparations in advance; external contacts with importers should be strengthened. Track changes in US registration and notification requirements and discuss the possibility of selecting agents for registration in the United States.
At the same time, some experts pointed out that the implementation of the new FDA regulations may be quite difficult because the regulations involve many trade links and the number of related companies involved is even greater. Work efficiency will become a big problem. The majority of SMEs in the food industry in China have limited ability to respond to emergencies and trade barriers. This regulation will greatly increase the trade costs of these enterprises. However, if they want to enter the U.S. market smoothly, these companies should also understand the relevant provisions and registration procedures as soon as possible.
In response to this emergency situation, the reporter also interviewed several large-scale exporters of aquatic products in China. The heads of these enterprises are basically in an unknown state. When asked if the regulations will be issued and how the company will respond, companies have expressed We hope to work together with related industries or companies to tide over difficulties.
The newspaper will continue to pay attention to the progress of this incident and the development of user companies. It is hoped that packaging companies will follow the newspaper's follow-up reports.
Summary of contents proposed by FDA:
1. The FDA requires that domestic and foreign entities engaged in production, processing, packaging, or warehousing (including inventory, cold storage, cellars, warehouses, liquid storage tanks, etc.) serve food for the U.S. population and animals, and facilities must be available before December 12, 2003. Register with the FDA.
For foreign institutional facilities, the registration must include the name of the agency and the United States agency. If authorized by the foreign institution facility, the United States agency can register on behalf of the foreign institution facilities. If the food produced by a foreign A agency is reprocessed or packaged by another B agency outside the United States and exported to the United States, then A agency does not need to register with FDA, but if agency B only performs minor reprocessing, A , B agencies are required to register.
Second, registration can be registered electronically, on the Internet or via ordinary mail in writing. Registration does not have a cost problem, FDA will receive a registration code for each registrant after receiving the registration application, and the registrant shall not leak outside.
3. The definition of “food” in the proposed regulations is consistent with the definition of the “Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law”, which mainly includes: (1) for humans and animals to eat or drink various articles; (2) chewing gum; (3) use (4) Including but not limited to fruits, vegetables, fish, milk products, eggs, animal feed (including pet food), food and feed ingredients and additives (potable food packaging and other foods) Contacted items), food supplements and ingredients, baby feeding milk, beverages (including alcoholic beverages and bottled water), live animals, barbecued foods, snacks, candies, canned foods, etc.